First-run programs are pre-produced television programs initially broadcast by television stations owned or affiliated with a television network. Thus, for example, an episode of the popular television program ERSM is a first-run program when initially broadcast. By contrast, the film “Star Wars” is not a first-run program, even when first broadcast by a television station, since it was originally distributed in movie theaters. In addition, live programs such as live broadcasts of sporting events are not first-run programs since they are not pre-produced.
In the past, television viewers viewing a first-run program were unable to utilize advanced viewing features such as fast-forward, rewind, and slow motion, since the content of such programs was broadcast to viewers in “real-time,” where each frame of video and audio is viewed by the user at the same instant that it is broadcast, except for any transmission delays. Unless otherwise specified, the term broadcast as used herein refers to a broadcast at the normal viewing rate. More recently, however, the advent of personal video recorders (PVRs) has made some of these advanced viewing features available to viewers.
PVRs record first-run and other programs as they are broadcast. PVRs also provide viewers with time-shifting features including pause, rewind, and fast-forward functions, but only with respect to content that has already been broadcast.
Both client-side (i.e., at the viewer's location) and server-side (i.e., at the broadcaster's location) PVRs have been implemented. Some client-side PVRs, such as those integrating TiVo and Replay TV services, record live incoming program feeds of any type onto a local hard drive at the viewer's location. Others, including ShowShifter and WinTV, enable viewers to record and play back television programs through video capture cards on their home computers.
Server-side PVRs are typically maintained by digital media service providers, such as cable operators, satellite providers, telephone companies, or Internet streaming service providers. In contrast to client-side PVRs, server-side PVRs share stored content between all viewers in a geographic region. Instead of gigabytes (tens of hours) of space on a single client-side device, server-side PVRs are capable of storing terabytes (tens of thousands of hours) of digital content in one location. Accordingly, server-side PVRs provide viewers with access to large content libraries.
Although existing PVR solutions have the ability to fast-forward, rewind, and pause the portion of a first-run program that has already been broadcast, they do not have the ability to fast-forward to a point in the program beyond the current broadcast point, i.e., the point in a first-run program that would currently be displayed on a television receiver if the program was viewed normally beginning at its scheduled publication time. Consequently, viewers wishing to fast-forward through commercials or portions of a program that are not of interest cannot watch the desired portion of the program until after a substantial portion of the program has been broadcast. This drawback of the prior art is illustrated in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2.
As shown in FIG. 1, first-run programs are typically sent via a plurality of transmission paths. More specifically, a source 110 transmits the program through a network broadcast operations center 120 via satellite 130 to a number of re-distributors 140–170, including direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) providers 140, network affiliates 150, cable television providers 160, and telephone companies 170. Each re-distributor 140–170 has some form of access into viewer homes and delivers the program via a suitable transport mechanism. For example, DBS providers 140 re-transmit the program over another satellite 145; network affiliates 150 broadcast from a terrestrial transmitter 155; cable television providers 160 distribute the signal using a hybrid fiber optic and coaxial cable network 165; and telephone companies 170 use a combination of fiber optic and twisted pair cables 175 (telephone lines) to distribute the program to the viewer. Each method of distribution may or may not require additional viewer-premises equipment 147, 157, 167, 177 for viewing the program on a television receiver 180.
FIGS. 2A–2D graphically illustrate the temporal relationship between the transmission and reception of an exemplary first-run program in the prior art. Each square in FIGS. 2A–2D represents an amount of time, t. The vertical line TSB represents the scheduled publication time for the first-run program, i.e., the time at which broadcast of the first-run program is to commence. The time period to the left of TSB is referred to herein as the pre-publication period, and the time period to the right is referred to herein as the post-publication period.
FIG. 2A illustrates an example of a first-run program comprising a plurality of segments A through E, having a duration of 5 t. It should be recognized that the division into five segments shown in FIG. 2A is purely exemplary. Each program may be conceptualized as comprising any number of segments N, each of time t, where N*t is the total program length. Thus, for example, a segment may be defined to represent 12 minutes of a program (as in the case of a one hour program divided into five segments such as segments A–E in FIG. 2A), one minute of a program, one second of a program, a single video frame of a program, or any other desired amount of a program.
The blocks in FIG. 2A indicate that the publisher (i.e., operator of network broadcast operation center 120) is in full possession of the program content at time (TSB−t). As of that time, the program has not been transmitted or viewed since the current time has not yet reached TSB.
Once TSB is reached, publication of the program commences. In each time interval, a program segment of duration t is broadcast to the receiver, as indicated in FIG. 2B by the bold segment lettering in the lower row.
As content is broadcast, it is displayed by the receiver, as shown in FIG. 2C. This sequence continues until the end of the program. Since segment A is not stored by the receiver, it no longer appears on the lower row. Segments C through E also do not appear on the lower row since they have not yet been broadcast. Consequently, the viewer cannot fast-forward or rewind the program because the television receiver does not store broadcast content but simply displays such content as it is received.
A PVR device provides the user with additional functions by recording previously broadcast segments. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2D, the PVR recording provides the ability to time-shift program content so that the user may pause, rewind, and fast-forward, but only within the scope of content that has already been broadcast. Thus, in FIG. 2D, since segments C through E have not yet been broadcast, the PVR cannot fast-forward beyond the end of segment B.